Another super duper-ly awkward review to write. It's about (SPOILER ALERT!) lady parts. But some…read moreof us have them, and sometimes they require servicing (mind out of the gutter, please), so here goes:
For those ladies who need only one thing addressed to choose an OB/GYN: yes, he knows the importance of a heating pad.
For the rest of you: Dr. Yamashiro is absolutely, without question, the best doctor I have ever had. That is no exaggeration. Indeed, that may actually understate it.
I first saw Dr. Yamashiro to deal with a grapefruit+-sized fibroid that Planned Parenthood discovered when I went in for an exam. My regular OB/GYN had apparently missed it only a few months earlier, and--after I went back to them post-PP diagnosis--they were all "oh, let's see if we can shrink it by giving you bad drugs for three months" and (from the ultrasound tech) "I hope you didn't want kids because I don't know how they can get this out without removing most of your [important lady parts]." (Really? Because I need to hear that from the ultrasound guy eight days before they can schedule time with an actual doctor? Asshole.)
I then named my little (big) interloper Brad (short for Fibrad), and cast about for referrals from every pregnant woman with whom I was even moderately acquainted.
Based on the advice of Random Pregnant Lady No. 8, off to Dr. Yamashiro I went, looking for a solid (and timely) second opinion about Brad. He found time to see me within a few days of my initial call, did the ultrasound on the spot, and said nothing scary while at the same time saying "this needs to come out, like, now." He was gentle, but informative and firm in his advice that I needed to abort Brad right away. He took the time to answer all my questions, both in his office and by telephone over the next few days, and fit me in for surgery within just a few weeks of my first visit.
The surgery itself came off like a dream--although I was totally drugged up, so what do I know?--despite the fact that Brad was, apparently, both bigger and much squishier than we'd thought. Afterward, Dr. Yamashiro took the time to explain everything, and he was available by phone all through the recovery period.
(He was also wise enough to take away my iPhone when I was--a few hours post-surgery and totally high on morphine--"editing" and e-mailing a press release for work that I wanted to go out later that day. I'm pretty sure I was typing "I just luuurve you soooo much" to my co-counsel at the time he intervened.)
I have gone back to see him several times since then, first for my final post-surgery check-up, then for a consult, and now seemingly endless times because we are pregnant. (By "we" I don't mean me and Doc V., btw; just me and my partner.) He could not have been nicer and, in stark contrast to doctors at the previous OB or at the U's ART clinic, he remembers exactly who I am and what my history/his advice has been, and he takes the time to actually listen and provide solid recommendations. He even looked me right in the eye and handed me tissues when I briefly lapsed into crazy crying lady mode during the "trying phase." Now that's a damn good doctor.
The previous reviewer said "I love, love, LOVE this man." Yeah? Well . . . MORE!
Plus, his holiday card had him and his co-doctors dressed up as superheroes, with one of them named The Speculator. How can you not love that?